Possession not nine-tenths of result WBA 2 ASNL 1
Parade
By Boris Mellor
October 24 2005
By now most Arsenal Times readers have either seen this match on television, or read a report, so I will restrict myself to a few analytical comments. Arsenal had 61% possession in this game, and at least 10 shots on target.
Nonetheless they managed to lose the game, unfortunately football is not decided on possession but on the number of goals scored. West Brom were more effective at converting their four chances into goals and with Chris Kirkland playing out of his skin far more effective at keeping out our chances.
But at least these days we are scoring from corners, unfortunately we struggle to score from anywhere else. True Kirkland was probably man of the match, but some of our shooting was rather wayward. The good shots we had were parried by the truly athletic Chris Kirkland, maybe on another day, with another goalkeeper we might have had a hatful.
But it was not to be, this was not a bad performance the team tried hard, they played entertainingly at times, but they failed to defend to any true effect. The injury to Freddie further added to the lack of cohesion. Yes we had 11 good players on the pitch, but this 11 do not always a mesh as a team. An added problem is that without Freddie we are missing 15 goals a season, Henry 30 goals a season, Pires, poor form, another 15 goals, and Reyes although playing very well has lost confidence in front of goal. Add to this the seemingly unsolvable problem of keeping a clean sheet with out Campbell then yesterday's result is not a major surprise.
However fans should not panic as Campbell will be back within the next 10 days, hopefully van Persie will be back for Tuesday, and Henry back fairly soon. There are still plenty of games to play, and although it is unrealistic to believe we can win the league, qualification for the Champions League is obtainable, plus 3 cup ompetitions. Hopefully Wenger's youth can find time to mature and still help the club to win trophies. Meanwhile any exaggerated hype or hysteria will help no one. We have been here before, often during one of Arsenal's November runs of bad form the press have claimed that Arsene is losing the plot,and that it was all over. Every year for the last eight years pundits have rarely predicted we would win the league, and some that we would finish third or below. If you say something long and often enough you may prove to be right eventually. However what it does demonstrate is that Wenger has overachieved on small amounts of money, compared to the very big boys, for a long time. Although he does not like the term transition,this team is work in progress,and there is no progress without patience.
Wenger has taken a revolutionary path this season in trying to win things with kids, he might not succeed, but he can hardlly give up after only nine games. If the youth are to be given a chance then they must be given exactly that - a chance. It hardly helps them to be writing down a list of, often overpriced and overcharging, players to replace them